Sarah loves bus shelters and some of the ads in them. She especially loves the Molyneaux carpet ad with a kid wearing a green shirt on a green carpet. Amy’s favorite ad has a cat playing a keyboard. A few months ago, Sarah’s favorite bus shelter was taken away! It was at a corner near the playground we walk to so this was very disappointing. Recently, a new (used) bus shelter was installed. Sarah’s favorite ad wasn’t there, but Amy’s was. We went there yesterday and they had fun pretending to sit on a bench that wasn’t there. Sarah told me she was a goof and a half, which is what I often tell her and is so true. Sarah had fun for the entire time. Amy really wanted Sarah to play school her way and got upset when Sarah wouldn’t. To Amy’s credit, she was much more flexible than usual. She got stuck though when it came to math. She gave Sarah a math problem on a piece of paper and Sarah didn’t want to do it. I explained that maybe 6+4 was too hard for Sarah. Amy couldn’t understand this because to her it is the easiest thing ever. I tried pointing out that she didn’t always know the answer and that when she was in preschool or kindergarten it might have seemed hard. Math comes so easily for Amy and she loves it. Math is one of Sarah’s most challenging subjects and it does not come easily at all. Still, I will see the success in Amy’s flexibility of allowing the school room to sometimes be in the bus shelter.
Responding to Sarah’s love of restaurants and being a waitress, her teacher has created a menu of options. The options are reading book, reading activity, spelling book, spelling activity, math book, and math activity. Apparently, Sarah loves this and studies it seriously before deciding.
Her teacher also says she has been quite independent about changing out of her boots and into her sneakers when she arrives at school, possibly because she is so proud of her ability to tie her shoes. As she should be! It still amazes me.
Sarah’s favorite show to watch these days is the Turkey Dance or similar dances led by a person on youtube. I love that this gets her up and moving a bit more.
Recently I spoke with someone who is interested in the Son-Rise Program. I began looking back through my updates in search of a video of me playing with Sarah. I never found one, though I know we have such recordings. I did find a video of M. playing with Sarah. M is a specialist who did outreaches with us. It was amazing to see such a young Sarah who was still so much learning to speak. It was amazing to read bits of updates from years ago. I realize that with any person it can be stunning to have proof of the passage of time. Somehow it boggles my mind more regarding Sarah because I didn’t take anything for granted the way I did with Amy. Of course Amy would learn to crawl, walk, talk, eat, etc. With Sarah we really didn’t know. On the one had we believed fervently, determinedly, and passionately. On the other hand we just had no way of knowing and each skill was much more hard won. It feels the same looking ahead. I have no idea if she will be able to do certain things, but I can still hope and work towards them. I know I write about this kind of thing often. It really never gets old for me. It still feels like a miracle. Noticing how far we have come also helps me handle any current struggles with a bit more grace (maybe. sometimes).
May you notice how far you have come.
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